"Ynez Johnston Rises to Speak"
When I was child, Ynez Johnston (1920-2019), the abstractionist print-maker, and her husband, the writer John Berry, were intimate friends of my parents, who were young artists like them. Johnston's work achieved some distinction in the 1950s, and is still active at auction, having been featured, and collected by, the Museum of Modern Art, among others.
She and Berry would come for occasional visits, during which Johnston would share, and sometimes gift, her works. I learned from my elderly father, a full half century after they'd lost touch, that Ynez and John were closeted members of the LGBTQ community who, as close confidants, had married each other for the sake of appearances, a sad necessity of those times.
I recall Ynez as a lively presence, and for a lifetime I have puzzled over the vibrant hieroglyphic prints of hers that graced our home's walls.
TITLE - "Ynez Johnston Rises to Speak"
WHERE - Port Coquitlam, British Columbia (2016/2020)